Oil-engine.



Patented July [7, I900.

N E ME Em Be On" 0E TIL 0 (Application filed Aug. 19, 1898.)

(No Model.)

INVENTGI? WITNESSES ATTORNEY l NrTED STATES PATENT Omen.

vleco v. TORBENSEN, on WESTVILLE,

NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE NEW JERSEY.

OIL-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 653,854, dated July 17, 1900.

Serial No. 688,982. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Vieeo V. TORBENSEN, a citizen of the United States, residingat Westville, in the county of Gloucester and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil-Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speci- IO fication.

This invention relates to that class of internal-combustion engines in which the heavier Oils are used as fuel. It is usual in such engines to gasify or vaporize the oil in a sepa- I 5 rate external chamber which is kept hot by means of a lamp, the heat of the chamber serving not only to gasify, but to ignite the fuel. To effect the continuous and reliable operation of the engine, it is necessary that the vaporizer be maintained at a constant temperature, because if too cold the oil does not gasify and ignite properly, the internal parts clog up, and the engine loses power, and if too hot the ignitions take place premat'urely and the engine may stop.

The object of my invention is to providea construction wherein the heat necessary for the proper gasification of the fuel-oil and the ignition of the charges shall be supplied by the heated products of combustion after the engine has been started and wherein the proper temperature for the reliable and efficient working of the engine shall be automatically maintained. I

5 To this end the invention consists in the provision of a vaporizer of novel construction supported in the combustion-chamber of the engine and having communication with the source of oil-supply and with the engine-cyl- 40 inder.

It consists also in various features of construction and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal 5 vertical section of a part of an engine embodyin g my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse horizontal section as on the line x 00 of Fig. 1.

The numeral 1 designates the cylinder; 2, the piston therein, with the usual air-inlet valve 3; 4, thecombustion-chamber on the cylinder; 5, the exhaust leading from said chamber, and 6 the usual exhaust-valve, the latter being in axial alinement with the cylinder. The means for operating the exhaustvalve being of well-known construction and forming no part of my present invention needs no description herein.

The combustion-chamber is formed in a flanged casting or head that is fitted to theend of the cylinder, such chamber having therein a contracted portion a, which divides the chamber into two communicating parts b c, whereof the lower part opens directly 1 into and forms, in effect, a portion of the cylinder.

Arranged centrally within the part b of the combustion-chamber is a vaporizer 7, which comprises a hollow body of appropriate form to afiord between the same and the adjacent wall of the chamber a space 8. Depending 7o centrally from the interior of the body is a tubular extension 9, which projects through and slightly below the contracted portion of the chamber.

The vaporizer is supported by a horizontal pipe 10, which extends from the interior of the vaporizer to and through the wall of the chamber. The outer end of the pipe is expanded and provided with a head 11, in which are two suitably-arranged ports or inlets 12 8o 13, whereof one, 12, leads to the open air, while the other has fitted thereto a pipe 14:, leading to the source of oil-supply. On this head is seated an ordinary puppet-valve 15, that controls the communication between the respective ports and the pipe 10. Below this pipe is formed a duct 16, which leads to the combustion-chamber and terininales in an outwardly-extending tube 17, termed the ignition-tube.

The operation may be briefly described as follows: At the outset the ignition-tube is heated by a suitable lamp placed below the same, and motion is imparted to the engine by hand, so as to move the piston downward, thus creating within the cylinder a partial vacuum, which opens the valves 3 and 15. Oil from pipe 14, commingled with a small quantity of air from port 12, thereupon en-' ters the vaporizer and is discharged by the I00 depending extension in a very finely divided spray, while air enters by way of the inlet in the piston and commingles with the atomized oil-spray. On the return stroke of the piston the resulting combustible material is compressed, part of it being forced into the hot ignition-tube, where it takes fire and ignites the whole charge in the usual way. When the engine is once started, the heat of combustion and of the exhaust-gases passing out around the vaporizer quickly raises the latter to the desired temperature, and after a few initial explosions the lamp may be removed from under the ignition-tube and extinguished. Thereafter the gasifyin g and igniting is efiected by the vaporizer with great regularity, the temperature necessary therefor being automatically maintained constant, as will hereinafter appear.

The extension-tube 9 is arranged as shown and-above described for the purpose of preventing the oil gas or vapor drawn in through the vaporizer from mixing with the exhaustgases with which the upper space of the combustion chamber around the vaporizer is filled, or, in other words, the combustible charge is kept in the-cylinder and'lower part of the combustion-chamber during and upon the completion of the downstroke of the piston, while the upper part of the combustionchamber is filled entirely with the waste gases remaining there from the last preceding stroke, and the interior of the vaporizer is filled with a very rich mixture of oil-gas containing too little air to be readily ignited. On the return stroke of the piston the explosible mixture is gradually forced into the upper part of the combustion-chamber until at the end of the stroke it reaches the hot walls of the vaporizer and is thereby fired.

It may be remarked that the under part of the combustion-chamber is kept at a low temperature (much too low for ignition) by its contact with the water-jacketed cylinder; further, that the tube 9 when not too thick cannot become hot enough to cause premature ignition, because if it does become hot during combustion the next incoming charge of oilvapor at once cools it much below the tem-v perature of ignition. In fact, in actual operation while the body of* the vaporizer is of a bright-redheat the tubular extensionremains black. Inasmuch as the combustion does not take place around the vaporizer except to a very limited extent, this body is heated mainly by the escaping products of combustion passing around it during the exhaust stroke. It cannot therefore become hot enough to cause preignition even when the engine is working under fullload-J. e. making many explosions or working strokes-because if there be any tendency to rise in temperature much above that of the exhaustgases the latter during their escape will carry off the excess of heat. The vaporizer cannot become too cold even when the engine is work' ingentirely light and missing many explo sions, because in that event the exhaust-valve is kept closed, the highly-heated exhaust-' gases remain confined in the cylinder and combustion-chamber surrounding the vaporizer, and in consequence no heat is carried away from the latter.

I claim as my invention-- 1. In an engine of the class recited, the combination with the cylinderand piston, of a combustion-chamber, a vaporizer therein having a discharge-tube, a feed-passage for said vaporizer, and a suitable exhaust in axial alinement with the cylinder, the vaporizer being arranged between the exhaust and the engine-cylinder and in the direct path of the escaping products of combustion, whereby the latter are adapted to heat the vaporizer for maintainingthe same at the required'temperature.

2. In an engine of the class recited, the combination with the cylinder and piston, of a combustion-chamber, a vaporizer'therein comprising a hollow body supported out of contact with the top and side walls of said chamber, and having a discharge-tube, afeedpassage for said vaporizer, and a suitable'exhaust arranged in axial alinement with the cylinder, the vaporizer being arranged between the exhaust and the engine-cylinder and in the direct path of the escaping products of combustion, whereby the latter are adapted to heat the'vaporizer for maintaining the same at the required temperature.

3. In an engine of the class recited, the combination with the cylinder and piston, of a combustion-chamber having a contracted portion, a vaporizer supported in said'chamher and provided with a discharge-tube which depends through said contracted portion, a feed-passage for said vaporizer, and a suit able exhaustarranged in axial alinement with the cylinder, the vaporizer being arranged between the exhaust and the engine-cylinder and in the direct path of the escaping prodnets of combustion, whereby the 'latterare adapted to heat the vaporizer for maintaining the sameat the requiredtemperature.

4. In an engine of the class recited, the combination with the cylinder and piston, of a combustion-chamber having therein-a contracted portion which divides the chamber into two communicating spaces, a vaporizer supported in the upper space and provided with a discharge-tube depending into the lower space, a feed-passage for said vaporizer, and a suitable exhaust arranged in axial alinement with the cylinder, the vaporizer being arranged between the exhaust and the.

engine-cylinder and in the direct path of the escaping products of combustion, whereby the latter are adapted to heat the vaporizer for maintaining the samcat the requiredtem- V perature.

.5. loan engine of the class recited, the combination withthe cylinder and piston, of a combustion-chamber,a vaporizer supported therein, an oil and air supply pipe'therefor,

a valve for said pipe, an ignition-tube, and an exhaust arranged in axial alinement with the cylinder, the vaporizer being arranged between the exhaust and the engine-cylinder and in the direct path of the escaping products of combustion, whereby the latter are adapted to heat the vaporizer for maintaining the same at the required temperature.

6. In an engine of the class recited, the combination with the cylinder and piston, of a combustion-chamber having upper and lower communicating spaces, a vaporizer supported in the upper space, an oil and air supply pipe for said vaporizer, a valve for said pipe, an ignition-tube, and an exhaust ar- VIGGO V. TORBEN SEN Witnesses:

JOHN R. NOLAN, HECTOR T. FENTON. 

